List the marketing activities in your DMO. Be very specific and tactical. Include things like

running Facebook advertising

managing the Facebook community

create and maintain website content

build a new website addition

advertise on billboards in city X

run banner ads on Tripadvisor

run PPC/SEM ads

build or maintain a mobile app

organize industry training

attend a tradeshow

Then list why do it. What’s the specific reason for the activity. Start with “to….”
Then list what the reason is for that.
Repeat step 3 until you list “to grow tourism in my destination”

Example

we run PPC ads

why? to drive more visitors to our website who are looking for specific information

why? to help people plan their trip

why? to increases the likelihood they will visit our destination or enhance their trip experience

why? to grow tourism in my destination

Another one

we run Tripadvisor banner ads

why? to intercept people who are in “trip planning” mode on Tripadvisor

why? to make our destination a consideration

why? to increase our changes for conversion

why? to grow tourism in my destination

If you can’t credibly get to the last answer, you need to seriously consider if what you’re doing makes sense.

You should also really think about each step and evaluate of this is truly the case. Do the numbers indicate this? And what would the impact be if you wouldn’t do this? What would be the impact on the consumer? Is there an alternative for them? Are you doing some things because you’ve always done them? Or because you think your stakeholders demand it? Or because you need to outdo the DMO next door in some arbitrary number?

For example, what would happen if you didn’t run those PPC ads? Would people simply find the information elsewhere? Is that information elsewhere good if not better? Is the real reason for those ads because you need to report the number of website visitors? This is not attack on PPC campaigns by the way, they can be very effective.

Someone needs to ask these questions, for everything, regularly. It’s part of being strategic.